At least four separate theories of crime and punishment compete for preeminence
in guiding correctional policies. Justice: First, there is the ancient Judeo-Christian
idea of holding individuals responsible for their guilty acts and compelling them
to pay a debt to society. Retribution is an expression of society’s moral
outrage, and it lessens the impulse of victims and their families to seek revenge.
Deterrence: Another philosophy argues that punishment should be sure, speedy, commensurate
with the crime, and sufficiently conspicuous to deter others from committing crimes.
Incapacitation: Still another philosophy in correctional policy is that of protecting
the public from lawbreakers or habitual criminals by segregating them behind prison
walls. Rehabilitation: Finally, there is the theory that criminals are partly or
entirely victims of social circumstances beyond their control and that society owes
them comprehensive treatment in the form of rehabilitation. (p. 100-101)

First, you’ll want to identify the main points in this passage. Use some scratch
paper to identify the main points:

Now let’s look at a sample paraphrase of the passage. This sample paraphrase
has several key problems. Read the paraphrase and then write down some of the problems
with this paraphrase.

Four separate theories about crime and punishment compete in guiding correctional
policies. The first is an ancient Judeo-Christian idea of justice. This idea holds
individuals responsible for their own actions and compels them to pay a debt to
society. In this case, retribution is an expression of society’s moral outrage.
This lessens the impulse of victims to seek revenge. A second theory of crime and
punishment is deterrence. This philosophy argues that punishment should e certain,
swift, and commensurate with the crime. If punishment is conspicuous, this theory
holds that it will deter others from committing crime. A third theory is the theory
of incapacitation. This theory is to protect the public from criminals by placing
criminals behind prison walls. A final theory of crime and punishment is the theory
of rehabilitation. This theory suggests that criminals are victims of social circumstances
beyond their control. In this instance society owes them comprehensive treatment
in the form of rehabilitation (Dye, 1995).

Problems with this Paraphrase: The writer of the paraphrase did
not change the structure of ideas, sentence structure, or wording. Essentially,
this writer is guilty of plagiarism.

Now that you’ve identified both the key points and the problems with the
paraphrase above, write your own paraphrase of the passage.

Sentence rhythm is a feature of all modes of language, not just speech. The peaks
and valleys are there when we read silently, and they are there when we write, as
we think of the words and phrases while moving our pen or punching the keyboard.
Although philosophers may debate about whether it’s possible to think in the
absence of language, we are certainly conscious of doing our own thinking in words.
In fact, we often “write” mental lists; we hold silent conversations
with ourselves; we scold ourselves; we rehearse what we plan to say to others and
what we wish we had said but didn’t. And that interior language, the sentences
and fragments of our inner voice, has all the peaks and valleys that our spoken
language has. (p. 25)

While may people separate ethical and legal issues, the boundary between these issues
is often ambiguous to the business manager who is not ordinarily trained as a lawyer.
The manager is trained to make functional business decisions and yet has a responsibility
for the management of legal and ethical affairs. When it is suggested that legal
and ethical decisions are independent, there is an assumption that the good executive
“instinctively” recognizes differences in legal and ethical issues.
While there are some legal issues that are obvious, many borderline ethics decisions
result in civil litigation. In reality, civil complaints and litigation are a formal
procedure resolving ethical disputes between two parties.